A six-man U.S. contingent placed 2nd in the team competition at the Puerto Rico Cup. The host team captured the gold by a relatively slim margin (350.00-348.80). In the same meet, Brandon Wynn (87.15) took the all-around silver medal in a tight finish. Illinois' Tyler Mizoguchi (86.45) came in 6th, while Michigan-bound Adrian de los Angeles (83.90) placed 14th. Wynn won gold on rings (15.925) and silver on high bar (14.60), while Mizo added two more medals to the U.S. total with an outstanding [...more]
We finally got to see the list of summer international assignments, published by USAG late last week. No real surprises, and they should provide a good warm-up for VISAs. Headlining the assignments, are those for the Japan Cup. Jonathan Horton and Danell Leyva will be joined by Alex Naddour, Steven Legendre and John Orozco. It's assumed that Horton, Leyva and Naddour will be [...more]
After days of speculation, new Ohio State men's gymnastics coach Rustam Sharipov made it official today that Orlando Metro coach Casimiro Suarez and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Hamm are officially on board as assistant coaches. We don't need to elaborate too much about Hamm's background, of course, but it's assumed that he will also continue his training on the Buckeyes' campus. Most recently, Suarez is well known as the coach for [...more]
Here’s a young man who has had a charmed gymnastics career. While not heavily recruited in high school, Kent Caldwell chose to take his shiny academic credentials to the University of Michigan, where he was also given a chance to shine in the gym. Caldwell trained at the Charlotte Gymnastics Academy during his club years, and, known for being a floor and vault specialist, his contributions to Michigan gymnastics [...more]
It's been a week since the men's JO Nationals in Long Beach, and the girls' turn was this weekend. Held at the same venue, Long Beach Arena, the best Level 10s in the country competed for top spots on the podium and to impress the dozens of college coaches, who were afforded assigned seating. According to Coach Rick McCharles, who attended both the men's and women's meets, the men's meet was [...more]
StickItMedia has learned that CJ Maestas will be enrolling at the University of Illinois in the fall, and will compete for the men's gymnastics team next season. Maestas, a member of the Senior National Team, is a huge addition for Head Coach Justin Spring. The addition of Maestas, provides Spring the luxury of competing four gymnasts (Maestas, Paul Ruggeri, Tyler Mizoguchi and Yoshi Mori) who potentially can each hit [...more]
If not for a fall on high bar, Orlando Metro's Sean Melton would have hit 90 in the qualifying round. Seemingly on autopilot, Melton was cruising along, posting the day's highest scores on rings (15.10), vault (16.40) and parallel bars (15.00). Settling down after his high bar mishap (12.75), he ended up with the 2nd highest score on pommel horse (14.75) and the 4th highest score on floor (14.80). Not only did he post the highest Level 10 (14-15) all around score (88.75), he even [...more]
The 2011 Men's JO Nationals will be taking place in two weeks in Long Beach, CA. The rotation schedules have been published here. Region 5 definitely wins the award for the best regional venue. Their meet was held at Ohio State, the same weekend as the men's NCAA Championships. How cool that must have been for all the boys being afforded the opportunity to watch some great gymnastics put on by the college guys! Ohio was quite the hotbed for gymnastics, with [...more]
Oklahoma's Jake Dalton won his two specialty events, floor (16.20) and vault (16.55), a day after his team fell just shy of the team title. Teammate Steven Legendre came up short with his bid on floor to overtake Jonathan Horton's NCAA record for most individual titles. That Legendre only had one bite at the apple today was very unusual. An event finals without him in the vault lineup was almost as eerie as [...more]
Stanford opened the door with their 56.60 team score on pommel horse, but it wasn't opened wide enough. The Cardinal were well on their way to a national title after three events, tracking just a little more than a point less than they posted at the same point in the qualifying round. Their pommel horse score was 2.10 points lower than what they put up the previous evening, and that could have been enough to allow Oklahoma and Illinois to catch up. But Stanford had a secret weapon, [...more]
